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These days, Magic is evolving at a revolutionary speed, especially the development of Standard. Mono Red and Solar Flare were the front-runners in the beginning, and it was a matter of weeks before Wolf Run Ramp emerged to beat it. Soon enough, U/B Control appeared to claim the throne, and finally, it was white creatures standing at the top of the world, as I speak today.

The format is nearing its maturity I would say, and in a short period of one month! Thanks to SCG Opens, Standard has never been so well-tuned and fast to change.

This leads me to believe that there are three pillars in Standard at the moment. These three cards are format defining, and each is capable of winning the game on its own. Well, not entirely true of one of them, but it's a safe conclusion that as long as you are running Islands in your deck, you have to be running him!  

At SCG Open: Nashville, Brian Sondag showed the world that Primeval Titan still owns Standard despite Valakut's rotation. His list of Wolf Run is also highly tuned against Mono Red. Almost every piece of his deck was exceptionally good against the then public enemy: Viridian Emissary, Slagstorm, Wurmcoil Engine, and etc. Heck, he wasn't even playing the full amount of Primeval Titan just because he wanted to play the third copy of Wurmcoil Engine! It was probably not the most ideal decklist, but it did what it needed to do in beating Mono Red and having a favorable matchup against Solar Flare as well.

Wolf Run Ramp A Standard deck, by Brian Sondag 1st place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, United States on 2011-10-09 As reported at www.starcitygames.com Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifact Creatures 3 Solemn Simulacrum 3 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures 1 Acidic Slime 1 Birds of Paradise 3 Primeval Titan 4 Viridian Emissary Instants 4 Beast Within Planeswalkers 4 Garruk, Primal Hunter	Sorceries 4 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Rampant Growth 3 Slagstorm Basic Lands 9 Forest 3 Mountain Lands 4 Copperline Gorge 4 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Kessig Wolf Run 4 Rootbound Crag	Sideboard: 1 Ratchet Bomb 3 Sword of Feast and Famine 2 Tree of Redemption 1 Viridian Corrupter 4 Ancient Grudge 3 Thrun, the Last Troll 1 Slagstorm
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Wolf Run had quickly emerged as the deck to beat, and players were looking for an edge in the mirror. Viridian Emissary was good against red, but it's a redundant 2/1 unblockable/wall in the mirror match as opposed to the guaranteed acceleration of Birds of Paradise/Llanowar Elves in facilitating a faster arrival of Primeval Titan. In addition, Dungrove Elder was an excellent win condition in pressuring control players and attacking them from the angle they feared the most: hexproof. As a result, Wolf Run Green was created to present a new and improved angle of attack.   

Wolf Run Green A Standard deck, by Ben Friedman 1st place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Baltimore, Maryland, United States on 2011-10-23 As reported at www.starcitygames.com/openseries Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 2 Batterskull Artifact Creatures 3 Solemn Simulacrum 1 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures 1 Acidic Slime 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Dungrove Elder 2 Llanowar Elves 4 Primeval Titan Instants 3 Beast Within	Planeswalkers 4 Garruk, Primal Hunter Sorceries 3 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Rampant Growth Basic Lands 19 Forest 2 Mountain Lands 2 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Kessig Wolf Run	Sideboard: 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Acidic Slime 1 Tree of Redemption 1 Viridian Corrupter 2 Ancient Grudge 1 Beast Within 3 Gut Shot 3 Thrun, the Last Troll 1 Karn Liberated
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Therefore, this leads us to the formation of the first pillar of the format, the ugly rearing head of Primeval Titan.

1st Pillar: Primeval Titan

I had a difficult time deciding whether the “blue” pillar should be Consecrated Sphinx or Snapcaster Mage. Consecrated Sphinx fits better in the “winning the game on its own” category, and I personally like Consecrated Sphinx more than any other six-drop finishers. It blocks Sworded creatures relatively well, and unlike Titans, it doesn't have to attack in order to gain advantages. You just need to sit there and wait. And this is exactly what blue mages like to do, waiting for inevitability. The most obvious disadvantage is that it dies to Doom Blade/Beast Within on your end step or your opponent's upkeep, and it delivers you nothing in return unlike Titans and Wurmcoil Engine, which deliver a few nickels.   

Speaking of Snapcaster Mage, I have a very weird feeling towards this card. Putting it into simpler words, I am envious and jealous of Tiago Chan. He's such a lucky guy for having such an awesome card with his face. And frankly, this card will always be played in Standard, Modern, and even Legacy! Don't get me wrong; Tiago is a great guy as well as a great player, and I have nothing against him, but for both of us being Asian as well as Invitational winners, I feel some deep heartbreak about how awful my card turned out in the past.

Enough of my ranting; now let's get back to the awesomeness of Snapcaster Mage (urghhhh). Inevitability is a vital element for any blue-based control deck. Ideally your games should go long, and inevitability is the main reason you want games to go long. Snapcaster Mage provides a really smooth route towards inevitability. It provides good card-advantage and selection; it is almost like a split card of Nekrataal/Mystic Snake as long as you are running four Mana Leak and four Doom Blade in your deck. Of course not always, but you get the picture. Being able to double the count of your important spells against certain matchups also provides invaluable flexibility. For example, counterspells are never enough against Wolf Run because there are so many relevant spells to counter, which removal doesn't handle quite well. On the other hand, an endless stream of removal is always needed against aggressive white or red decks that have abundance of one- and two-drops.

U/B Control A Standard deck, by Jeremy Neeman 1st place at a Grand Prix tournament in Brisbane, Australia on 2011-10-16 As reported at http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpbri11/welcome#2 Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifact Creatures 1 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures 3 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Grave Titan 4 Snapcaster Mage Instants 4 Dissipate 4 Doom Blade 3 Forbidden Alchemy 1 Geth's Verdict 4 Mana Leak 1 Negate 4 Think Twice 2 Wring Flesh	Sorceries 1 Black Sun's Zenith Basic Lands 9 Island 6 Swamp Lands 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Drowned Catacomb 2 Ghost Quarter 2 Nephalia Drownyard	Sideboard: 1 Nihil Spellbomb 3 Ratchet Bomb 3 Spellskite 3 Phantasmal Image 1 Negate 1 Wring Flesh 1 Black Sun's Zenith 2 Nephalia Drownyard
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Solar Flare A Standard deck, by Akira Asahara 3rd place at a Grand Prix tournament in Hiroshima, Japan on 2011-10-30 Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 3 Consecrated Sphinx 3 Snapcaster Mage 1 Sun Titan Enchantments 3 Oblivion Ring Instants 4 Dissipate 3 Doom Blade 4 Forbidden Alchemy 4 Mana Leak 3 Think Twice Planeswalkers 2 Liliana of the Veil	Sorceries 3 Day of Judgment 1 Unburial Rites Basic Lands 3 Island 3 Plains 3 Swamp Lands 4 Darkslick Shores 1 Drowned Catacomb 2 Ghost Quarter 3 Glacial Fortress 4 Isolated Chapel 4 Seachrome Coast	Sideboard: 1 Nihil Spellbomb 2 Ratchet Bomb 1 Wurmcoil Engine 3 Mirran Crusader 1 Negate 1 Gideon Jura 2 Jace, Memory Adept 1 Day of Judgment 1 Timely Reinforcements 2 Nephalia Drownyard
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These are two lists that I really liked. Neeman's U/B list has a number of one-of instants to maximize the effectiveness of Snapcaster Mage. Asahara's Solar Flare is actually very similar to Neeman's list. It runs both Consecrated Sphinx and Snapcaster Mage as the main creatures, and it replaces the one-of with a solid sweeper and an answer in Day of Judgment and Oblivion Ring. It is basically U/B with a splash of white for those. It reduced the Solar Flare aspect of 4 Liliana of the Veil and 2 Unburial Rites to 2 Liliana and 1 Unburial Rites. That's a 50% reduction, and I believe it is even better without them, as those are “win-more” cards. All you need is 4 Consecrated Sphinx and 4 Snapcaster Mage to be pure, solid, and focused. Note that both players agreed that 27 lands is the way to go, although Asahara was a little greedier with 61 cards.

At the end of the day, Consecrated Sphinx wasn't universally agreed to be the best creature by all blue players. There are so many awesome six-drop finishers these days that people chose to diversify their investments instead of focusing on one. On the other hand, Snapcaster Mage is an auto-inclusion and a universally agreed choice as long as you are playing control, and you are blue. Hence, the winner is Snapcaster Mage.

2nd Pillar:  Snapcaster Mage 

The 1st pillar was an easy one; Primeval Titan is the core as well as the engine of the deck. The 2nd pillar was tough; Sphinx vs. Mage wasn't easy, but at the end of the day, there is no way you are not running Snapcaster Mage if you are playing a blue control deck, so that gets the nod over Sphinx.

The 3rd pillar was insanely difficult to decide. First of all, let's look at the three various white strategies that had success in recent tournaments: G/W Tokens, U/W Blade, and W/u Humans.   

G/W Tokens A Standard deck, by Martin Juza 1st place at a Grand Prix tournament in Hiroshima, Japan on 2011-10-30 Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 2 Mortarpod Creatures 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Birds of Paradise 2 Blade Splicer 2 Geist-Honored Monk 4 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader Enchantments 3 Oblivion Ring Legendary Creatures 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch	Planeswalkers 3 Elspeth Tirel 3 Garruk Relentless Sorceries 3 Overrun Basic Lands 8 Forest 4 Plains Lands 4 Gavony Township 4 Razorverge Thicket 4 Sunpetal Grove	Sideboard: 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 2 Sword of War and Peace 1 Fiend Hunter 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Celestial Purge 2 Naturalize 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 2 Thrun, the Last Troll 1 Garruk Relentless 1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
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U/W Blade A Standard deck, by Adam Boyd 1st place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, United States on 2011-10-30 As reported at http://www.starcitygames.com/openseries Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 3 Sword of Feast and Famine Artifact Creatures 3 Spellskite Creatures 4 Blade Splicer 3 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader 3 Snapcaster Mage	Enchantments 2 Oblivion Ring Instants 2 Dismember 4 Mana Leak 2 Midnight Haunting Sorceries 4 Gitaxian Probe Basic Lands 4 Island 9 Plains Lands 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast	Sideboard: 4 Ratchet Bomb 2 Sun Titan 1 Oblivion Ring 2 Celestial Purge 4 Flashfreeze 2 Revoke Existence
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W/U Humans A Standard deck, by Takahiro Shiraki 4th place at a Grand Prix tournament in Hiroshima, Japan on 2011-10-30 Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Champion of the Parish 2 Doomed Traveler 3 Elite Vanguard 2 Fiend Hunter 4 Grand Abolisher 4 Hero of Bladehold 4 Mirran Crusader Enchantments 3 Angelic Destiny 4 Honor of the Pure 3 Oblivion Ring Legendary Creatures 3 Geist of Saint Traft	Basic Lands 1 Island 12 Plains Lands 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Moorland Haunt 4 Seachrome Coast	Sideboard: 2 Batterskull 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions 4 Leonin Arbiter 3 Dismember 3 Timely Reinforcements
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It is very obvious in these three decks that it boils down to either Mirran Crusader or Hero of Bladehold forming the 3rd pillar. Every list runs 4 Mirran Crusader. Every list runs 4 Hero of Bladehold except for Adam Boyd's list, which runs 3, but it is such an easy task to include the 4th Hero by trimming either Spellskite or Blade Splicer. In terms of sheer number, Mirran Crusader has a slight victory.

Let's talk about the “feel good” part of casting either one of them. I'm not sure about you, but I have feelings about my creatures whenever I cast them. Every time I cast Mirran Crusader, I have a “safe” feeling due to its multiple layers of protections. It doesn't feel super awesome, but it feels warm.

On the other hand, Hero of Bladehold is just raw. She doesn't offer any extra layer of protection, but she often poses this statement to your opponent: “Kill me, or I shall kill you.” For a four-drop to make such a bold statement is huge. It has almost the reach of Titans and Consecrated Sphinx for aggressive decks. If she ever survives to make a hit, it can be quite certain the game is heavily in your favor.    

To put it in poker terms, Mirran Crusader feels very much like pocket Queens. You have a good pair regardless of what hits the flop. Of course an Ace or King would immediately shut you down, but you have a good pair right there, and statistically speaking, the chance of Ace or King hitting the flop is low.

Hero of Bladehold feels very much like Ace-King suited. You aren't ahead against any pairs, but AK suited gives you plenty of shoving equity, chances to break weaker Ace-X, and not many pairs that can call your shove.

I think both Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold are really, really close in power level. Personally, I like Hero of Bladehold a little bit more than Mirran Crusader, but realistically, I think Mirran Crusader is the better card in the current metagame. Having protection from black and green means you have a better chance of stealing wins from both Wolf Run Green as well as U/B Control. It is the Dungrove Elder for white decks. Having a casting cost of three means a lot, as it is a lot easier for aggressive strategies to cast Mirran Crusader over Hero of Bladehold, and it also hits a turn faster. In this situation, Mirran Crusader SLIGHTLY edges out Hero of Bladehold, which is more expensive to cast and dies to Beast Within and Doom Blade. Hence, the winner is Mirran Crusader.           

3rd Pillar: Mirran Crusader

The presence of Wolf Run certainly has changed the way other decks have adapted to the metagame. People no longer fear Stromkirk Noble. People are now looking for ways to combat Dungrove Elder and Primeval Titan. And the two best ways to do so? Countering all of them with Snapcaster Mage or beating the hell out of them with Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold.

In my opinion, the decks to beat are now the white decks. Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold makes a very formidable tag team, and you can hardly go wrong with them by supplementing them with green mana dorks or blue counterspells. They are both very difficult to handle, and your opponent needs to draw the right removal at the right time. Doom Blade is not going save you from Mirran Crusader, and Slagstorm can rot in your hand when I cast my Hero of Bladehold. The only way to effectively combat white creatures is white removal spells. Oblivion Ring and Day of Judgment are very well positioned as the best all-purpose removal in the metagame, but not many decks can capitalize on them.

Will the metagame evolve anymore from this point onwards?

I doubt, but I am sure thousands out there are trying to prove me wrong.